Sound
by Wicked Enough
Summary: //OneShot//SasuSaku// He is alone, and hears everything but her.


**Sound**

One-Shot

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Naruto.

Author's Note:

Currently in the middle of updating a whole bunch of one shots that were hidden on my laptop for literally _years_. Please excuse my reappearance from a year of lurking, as this is merely a temporary vacation from real life.

Hopefully you'll find the pointlessness of it endearing enough to enjoy it!

* * *

The sound is of rustling leaves.

He's walking under great threes that seemed to blend into one another like some form of dreamy illusions, dry leaves crinkling under his feet.

It's so quiet he relaxes himself (_a ninja should always be on guard!_) and moves under the boughs of an oak to lean against the trunk. He doesn't remember the last time he's craved death this much.

The sound is of whistling wind.

The pain hits him almost suddenly in his side (_damn fool pay attention!_) and he realizes he's bleeding and God it hurts but he won't scream (_not a whimper or the enemy will find you_) unless he can hide and prepare himself for more killing.

The Sharingan activates instantly and he's looking around for the one who had hurt him.

The sound is of her familiar voice.

He sees the pink hair and knows it's her under the painted ANBU mask without even waiting to hear her speak (_she's grown and moves now with the grace of a dancing killer and has it really been ten years?_).

"Uchiha Sasuke." So serious, so mature she looked, standing there with her arms at her side. She is silent after those two words and he waits for the rest of her accusations. Like a parrot those hunters had repeated their words to him (_Missing nin, for abandoning Hidden Leaf you must die_) so many times, one after another. Why wasn't she doing the same?

The sound is of silent dread.

"Aren't you going to tell me why you're here to kill me?" he prompts. He needs to hear those words from her lips not because he missed her voice but because without them he doesn't think he can bring himself to kill her.

Her hand moves (_prepare yourself, fool, or she'll kill you!_) but not down to her kunai pouch, where one of her weapons had already hit him, but to her mask.

She takes it off and he sees once more the pretty girl with tears in her eyes (_always tears for you_), reminding him dreadfully of that last painful night.

The sound is of one pitiful sob.

He falls to his knees and grasps his side (_it shouldn't hurt so much why is it hurting so much?!_) as the darting pain spreads across his limps.

"It's poisoned." She moves closer to him, dropping the cat mask on the ground as she does. "And you're going to die."

His eyes widen as her hand reaches out to touch him, so softly. He wants to ask '_Why?_' but he already knows the reason, and so does she because she doesn't talk anymore, just wraps her hands around him.

The sound is of a childhood lullaby.

She's humming as his body becomes paralyzed from the death-coated weapon she had thrown at him earlier. He's unable to move, unable to speak, unable to stop her as she moves his head to her lap (_she still smells like spring_) like when they were children and she feared for his life.

His fist clenches but drops to the ground, useless. He can't do anything but watch her face, trace the wet trails of tears with those red eyes he didn't know she hated.

"Death isn't so bad, you know," she says, almost conversationally. She has stopped her soft singing though the tears remain. "It can't be as bad as when I lost you."

The sound is of their breathing.

He has lost the feeling in his hands and feet but still he forces his eyes open so he can see her as she speaks (_I want her to be the last thing I see_) because he knows this will be important.

"You never cared about me the way I cared about you, but I don't hate you for that." She closes her eyes briefly and he can see the pale blue veins threading behind her eyelids. "Actually, I don't hate you at all." She opens her luminous eyes again and stares at him. "But I don't love you, either."

He expected that but it still hurt a little inside (_or was that just the poison sucking the life out of him?_) so his eyes close just a little bit to hide the pain.

"That's why I accepted the mission to find you."

The sound is of his heart slowly thumping.

She bites her lip as she often did as a child when she was thinking hard. "But I was wrong."

He waits for her to continue as his chest becomes more constricted and achy.

"I wanted to do something to you that you never bothered to do for me." She suddenly bends down so her lips are above his forehead. Kissing it softly (_everything about her is still soft_), she smiles brilliantly.

"Goodbye, Sasuke."

The sound is of the twittering birds above them.

She gently moves his head from her lab, placing it softly onto the ground as his eyes close for the final time. As she moves softly away, he musters the last of his strength to speak to her.

The sound is of childhood laughter that he can barely remember.

"_Goodbye, Sakura."_


End file.
